The Rip Van Winkle Caper
| "The Rip Van Winkle Caper" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Twilight Zone episode | |||
 DeCruz (played by Simon Oakland) in "The Rip Van Winkle Caper" just before Farwell kills him with the gold bars. |
|||
| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 60 |
||
| Directed by | Justus Addiss | ||
| Written by | Rod Serling | ||
| Production code | 173-3655 | ||
| Original air date | April 21, 1961 | ||
| Guest stars | |||
|
Simon Oakland: DeCruz |
|||
| Episode chronology | |||
|
|||
| List of Twilight Zone episodes | |||
"The Rip Van Winkle Caper" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
To escape the law after stealing $1 million worth of gold bricks from a train on its way from Fort Knox to Los Angeles, a band of four gold thieves, led by foreign-accented scientist-mastermind Farwell (Oscar Beregi, Jr.), hides in a secret cave in Death Valley, California. Farwell has designed suspended animation chambers and set them for 100 years, figuring that by 2061, nobody will remember the robbery and the gang will be in the clear.
When they wake up, things begin to go awry. Erbie is already dead, his suspended animation chamber having been breached by a falling rock. Greed soon begins consuming the others. Brooks demands that DeCruz drive the getaway car. DeCruz kills Brooks by running him over with the getaway truck, but then finds that the brakes do not work and barely escapes before the vehicle crashes into a ravine. Consequently Farwell and DeCruz must walk through the desert in the summer heat, carrying as much gold as they can.
Later, Farwell, who is older and heavier, loses his canteen, and DeCruz forces him to ante up one gold bar for each sip of water. When the "fee" goes up to two bars, Farwell strikes DeCruz with the gold bricks, killing him. Farwell then continues to a highway, lugging the gold he refuses to abandon. Finally, weak and dehydrated, he collapses. A futuristic car drives up and Farwell offers his gold to the couple inside in exchange for water and a ride to the nearest town, but dies a few moments later.
As the man named George gets back into his car to report Farwell's death to the police, he quizzically remarks to his wife, "Can you imagine that? He offered this to me as if it was really worth something." The wife vaguely recalls that it had indeed been valuable sometime in the distant past. The husband replies, "Sure, about a hundred years or so ago, before they found a way of manufacturing it," and tosses the gold bar away.
[edit] Production notes
The futuristic car carrying the couple who find the dying Farwell is a leftover prop, somewhat modified, from MGM's 1956 film Forbidden Planet.
[edit] See also
- List of The Twilight Zone episodes
- Aluminium was once as valuable as gold
- Rip Van Winkle
[edit] References
- DeVoe, Bill. (2008). Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1593931360
- Grams, Martin. (2008). The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0970331090
